FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL

WHAT IS CHOLESTEROL?
(Keywords: foods to avoid high cholesterol, LDL HDL cholesterol chart, recipes to lower cholesterol, foods to help lower cholesterol, how to lower cholesterol naturally ) CHOLESTEROL is a completely natural fatty compound synthesised by the liver. You can't live without cholesterol - it is for example the basis of many hormones in the body, and forms an essential part of the cell walls in your body. You also get cholesterol in your diet. Here lies the problem - some forms, particularly the so-called LDL, consumed in food greatly increases your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. Research also indicates it also increases the incidence of lower back pain. The first step in this process of analysing your diet is to decide just how aggressive you need to be in lowering your cholesterol. To do that, ask for the results of your cholesterol tests, and look at the tables below. I've added my own figures in, not to boast!, but just to show some fairly basic changes in lifestyle can get you off the Statins, with all their nasty side-effects, that are today being used to lower cholesterol. I confess it: I'm crazy about butter, and our mutton stew, the rich cheeses of Holland, and I refuse to drink low fat milk (it taste terrible!), I absolutely won't eat margarine, I drink too much beer and yet my cholesterol figures are excellent. How can that be? It's not just in the genes! It's all about the overall shape of your diet; are you an old dog...? Read on, your cholesterol figures can be excellent too. But first, how seriously do have to take this Foods to avoid high Cholesterol ? Got those figures on hand?

TOTAL CHOLESTEROL
LDL HDL cholesterol chart
Cholesterol is not bad! It's a perfectly normal substance in your body, and if you don't eat it, your body will manufacture it. Cholesterol is an essential ingredient of your hormones for example. Remember there are different kinds of cholesterol. Some should be high! High HDL is protective in your body. HDL is the cholesterol that transport fats back to the liver and, the higher your HDL cholesterol is, the better. Your HDL should be greater than 50 mg/dL, and preferably above 60. However, your total cholesterol should certainly be below 200 mg/dL. Above that, plaque will form in your arteries, clogging them, raising your blood pressure, weakening the walls of your capillaries, and making you vulnerable to an embolism (clot) that gets stuck in the narrowed vessel, and possibly a ruptured vessel. Should that happen in the brain... a stroke, and you know what that means. So, is your TOTAL CHOLESTEROL greater than 200 (5.1)? Time to think, in the short term, about FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL. In the long term? Foods that lower cholesterol.
| mg/dL | mmol/L | Good? Bad? | | 150 | 3,85 | Excellent | | 162 | 4.2 | Bernard Preston | | 175 | 4,49 | Very good | | 200 | 5,1 | Borderline | | 225 | 5,8 | Borderline high | | 240 | 6,2 | High | | 250 | 6,4 | Higher | | 275 | 7,1 | Badder | | 300 | 7,7 | Still badder | | 350 | 9,0 | Baddest | | 375 | 9,6 | Over the top |
What are LDL and HDL cholesterol?
LDL Low Density Cholesterol
LDL HDL cholesterol chart
LDL stands for Low Density Lipoprotein. This is the nasty form of cholesterol. Your LDL should certainly be below 130 (3.4) and preferably below 100 (2.6). If it's above 130 you needed to be worried, and in the short term remembering FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL is important. Far more important, in the long term is foods that lower cholesterol...LDL of 150? You need urgently to look at your diet. Something you are eating, more important, foods you are NOT eating are killing you. Literally. Want to sit under those trees you once planted? Want to watch your grandchildren grow up?
mg/dL and mmol/L, what's it all mean?
FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL
Whilst mg/dL is the traditional unit for measuring cholesterol, the scientific community, and most of the world, is moving rapidly to mmol/L.Not to worry, but get used to seeing 5.1 instead of 200 as the boundary between healthy blood cholesterol, and high risk cholesterol. Like grams, metres and litres, mmol/L is the future. In progressive nations! You can't hold out for ever, America! And only when America takes seriously the foods to avoid high cholesterol will the great American dream be realised... that great American way of life is seriously undermining everything the Pilgrim Fathers strove for. My brother has just had a two heart attacks - he's only 44.
| mg/dL | mmol/L | Good? Bad? | | 50 | 1,3 | Fantastic | | Below 70 | 1,8 | Desirable if smoker | | 95 | 2,5 | Bernard Preston | | Below 100 | 2,6 | Ideal | | 100-130 | 2,6+ | Fair | | 160+ | 4,1+ | High | | 190+ | 4,9+ | High Voltage! |
Searching for something specific? Say, " Eggplant recipes ". Just type it in here...
HDL High Density Cholesterol
LDL HDL cholesterol chart
High Density Lipoprotein cholesterol is the good stuff. The higher the better, it has a protective function. Got HDL less than 40 (if you are male)and 50 (if you are female)? You need to be worried. You are dangerously low on the protective HDL cholesterol.
| mg/dL | mmol/L | Good? Bad? | | Men: <40 | Below 1.0 | Bad | | Women: <50 | Below 1.3 | Bad | | 50+ | 1.3+ | Good | | 55 | 1,4 | Bernard Preston | | 60+ | 1.5+ | Perfect |
TRIGLYCERIDES
FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL
Biochemistry is complex stuff, but just accept that fat that you eat and, in the case of triclycerides, particularly sugar and booze is absorbed into your body, carried around in the blood stream in a form called VLDL (forget the name, but not the principle!), and either immediately used by the body for energy, or stored as adipose. Fat. These kids are eating a diet dangerously high in fat and sugar, and the result... Triglyceride in their blood will be in the High Voltage area before being deposited as FAT. That greatly increases the risk of diabetes and a life-threatening condition called pancreatitis. Of concern is that one can eat a diet low in fat, have normal LDL cholesterol but, because of a high sugar or alchohol diet, still have sky-high, very dangerous triglycerides in the blood. Aside: The size of the fat cells in your body are determined by the age of nine. Allow your child to become obese, and you've just condemned him/her to a lifetime battle with weight. S/he will probably sue you for negligence when s/he is an adult! Rightly so, it's probably more dangerous than starving him. Not literally, but I think you take my point. Foods to avoid high cholesterol is just as important for your kids as for you! Perhaps more important...

To release that fat from your adipose tissue, obviously the first step is to find out which foods to avoid high cholesterol (it's not rocket science), cut back hard on them and especially all carbodyrates: starches like bread and pasta and potato and rice, sugary foods, and alcohol. Beer, especially, goes straight to the belly.
| mg/dL | mmol/L | Good? Bad? | | 53 | 0,59 | Bernard Preston | | <150 | <1.7 | Good | | 150-200 | 1.7-2.3 | Not good | | 200 - 500 | 2.3-5.6 | Danger | | 500+ | 5,6+ | High Voltage! |
What determines the level of LDL cholesterol in the blood?
In short, too much saturated fat in your diet and too little of the foods that lower LDL cholesterol. Too much red meat, too little oats, hummus, salads and eggplant...The level of LDL in the blood is controlled by the liver. There are tiny "LDL receptors" that remove the LDL from the blood. In some people there are too few of these receptors (it's probably genetic but may well be related to life style, drugs, diet, exercise levels too...) so they have to be far more vigilant about what they do and don't eat.
SHORT TERM STRATEGY
FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL
So, your Total Cholesterol is above 200 (5.1), perhaps quite a lot above 200 (250? 270?) and your LDL is above 160 (4.1). The short term strategy is fairly simple: - Lean Red meat absolutely no more than once a day. If your cholesterol is 250+, then no more than twice a week.
- No more than 2-3 eggs per week.
- I can't bring myself to say "change to margarine" but butter in very, very limited quantities.
- Cut cheese out completely, and drink your tea and coffee black.
- Absolutely avoid all hydrogenated foods. No chips, no margarine, read the labels. NO HYDROGENATED FOODS.
LONG TERM STRATEGY
FOODS THAT LOWER CHOLESTEROL
There are a lot of foods that will adsorbe the cholesterol you are eating and prevent it being absorbed into your blood stream. THIS IS THE WAY TO GO. Then you can have your cake, AND EAT IT!
FOODS THAT LOWER CHOLESTEROL ...
Good luck, it can be done. I know because I have my cake, and I eat it. So can you, but you need to get to know about foods like oats, eggplant, apples, hummus and lots more. Delicious healthy stuff. Far better than meds to lower cholesterol with all their nasty side effects.
HOMOCYSTEINE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Scientists now think that HOMOCYSTEINE, a breakdown product of the essential amino acid METHIONINE metabolism (found in large quantities in red meat, fish and dairy products) is an even better indicator of heart and cardiovascular disease, amongst other diseases as Homocysteine attacks the bloodvessel walls. Read more...
HOMOCYSTEINE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE ...
RED YEAST RICE
Medical research proves that a combination of red yeast rice and fish oil is just as effective as statins... and with fewer side effects for those who are intolerant to statins.
RED YEAST RICE ...
Does lowering LDL cholesterol prevent heart attacks and strokes?
Absolutely, unequivocally! FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL is vital to lower your raised LDL which will reduce the plaque that clogs your arteries. The cardiologist is conerned about the Coronoray arteries, the neurosurgeon about the Carotid, Basilar and Cerebral arties; the chiropractic about the Vertebral arteries in your neck and the lumbar plexus of arteries that supply your low back... I could go on. LDL cholesterol clogs all the arteries (it's called Atherosclerosis) supplying blood to all parts of the body, not just your heart and brain. Patients with atherolsclerosis have more back pain too...
Anecdote @ FOODS TO AVOID HIGH CHOLESTEROL
How can LDL cholesterol levels be lowered?
I've already had my mandatory three fruits for breakfast (a plum, six strawberries and a slice of melon), a bowl of oats, and some homemade hummus (yes, I'm crazy!), so I know my cholesterol figures for the day will be fine, and I can enjoy butter on my sandwich, a boiled egg for lunch and a mutton stew tonight (but not every night! We eat fish three nights a week). I'll be cycling to work, so my VLDL's will be in good shape. Yours could be too...
QUAKER OATS RECIPES ...
AUTHENTIC HUMMUS RECIPE ... made in only four minutes.
STRAWBERRIES NUTRITION FACTS ...
HEALTHY CHOICE FOODS ...
My MUTTON STEW ... it's loaded with the goodies that prevent raised LDL cholesterol.
CHOLESTEROL CREDIT
Just as in buying Carbon Credits you can buy cholesterol credit ...read more:
CHOLESTEROL CREDIT ... have your cake and eat it.
CHICKPEA BURGERS Foods to help lower cholesterol Whilst soyabean burgers are perfectly horrid, if you are looking for recipes to lower cholesterol, then
chickpea burgers
make a wonderful red meat substitute. Enjoy them on a roll or with a green salad. An excellent example of how to lower cholesterol naturally.
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